Award Winning Publication
Award Winning Publication
Spotted sandpipers breed in most of the northern half of the United States and far into northern Canada. They begin arriving to Virginia in early April. By May the little hen has picked out a nesting site, which may be in the open, often away from water, hidden in a clump of vegetation; under a shrub; near a log or rock; or along a lake or river bank. The nest is merely a depression in the ground but lined with grasses or other vegetation. About four eggs are laid and they are buffy in color spotted and blotched with browns. The female is very attentive to her eggs and is considered a "close sitter," meaning she is reluctant to leave the nest until the last possible moment if disturbed. Unlike many other sandpipers and plovers, she will not try to lead intruders away by feigning injury, but will jump up and run about nervously. Incubation takes about 20-24 days and the downy young are precocial and are able to walk, run, swim, and fend for themselves as far as eating. The male generally guides the young, until fledging in a little over two weeks.
With the coming of fall the "teeter tails" lose their spotted breast when they go through molting and show a plain white breast. A good field mark at this time is a white patch on the side of it upper breast near the shoulder. The majority of spotted sandpipers are usually on their ways south by October to the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the Gulf States, and as far as southern Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. Rarely will you see one after the third week of October. In the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, look for them along the tidal river shores above the salt lines, small open freshwater streams and rivers, and along the more open shores of ponds and lakes.
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